Eclipse question for Larry and others!

[My2ktoy]

First off, no i'm not selling my car. ;) A friend is thinking of purchasing an eclipse gs-t or gs-x, and I wanted to ask larry his impressions of the eclipse. My specific questions: how does the handling compare to the celica? How much did your insurance change from GT-S to GS-T? Do you know of any good eclipse sites? What are your overall impressions of the car? Aka, what do you like/dislike about it. Lastly: whats a good order to mod the car out? He's gonna stick with the stock turbo for now. I know this isn't celica related but we have SUCH a nice, informed, intelligent administrater here that it'd be foolish of me not to ask his wise opinion. Thanks a lot Larry. (and anyone else who is nice enough to help me out)

[bluestreakgts]

I had a 95 gsx and a 95 gs-t. The gs-t is faster stock, but if modded alot the gsx will be faster. Personally I would not get either. My gs-t got crank walk and I had to get a new turbo and engine. Mitsubishi would not cover it. With the gsx you can't dump the clutch. If you do you will screw the tranny up. They are fast though. If you are going to mod it do the intercooler piping, intake, down pipe, test pipe, and exhaust first. Also get the under drive pulley, different blow off valve. Put a front mount intercooler and a boost controller. He should be happy with the results. Then put a 16g on it, and a 3000gt fuel pump. After that get the stillen front, drop it and get some 18 or 19 inch wheels.
Also if he buys one tell him to get a 97 or newer. The headlights and front and rear bumpers are better.

[MarkyMark]

the handling is f*cking laser (AWD).........and there's a ton of aftermarket (excluding transmissions)....turbo upgrades, intercoolers, BOV, cams, headers, boost controllers, AFC, you name it. It's IMO the best used car you can get - you can push the stock internals SO hard....beyond that, the insurance cost is the same that you'd pay for a celica...

[LEAVECIVICSINTHEDUST]

is it true that the AWD Eclipse is slower than the GS-T due to the gearing? I have heard this but find it hard to believe. I heard the quarters on the AWD are slower, because the GS-T catches up after the 60ft.

[memphis_raynes]

i would kill for a 2g AWD dsm. put about $2-3000 into it and it will be a beast on the streets for sure. i would love to find one with decent miles and a good background. id say get the GSX if your gonna get one. you just cant beat the AWD. true, it does get passed up some on the top end, but once you mod it you can burn a lot of cars from a stop. the FWD is nice, but id only get an AWD.

check out www.dsm.org its a good site with everything you need to know, and you can find DSMs for sale on there too. good luck and hope it all goes well.

[caz]

www.dsmtrader.com
www.thepartstrader.com

[My2ktoy]

Thanks everyone, your thoughts are very much appreciated. He's looking at a 97 5-speed gsx, 60,000 miles, all the options, for about 13K. Is this a good deal? Manual gs-x's are hard to find.

[SlasherX]

www.clubdsm.com

no offense to larry at all, but i would not buy a gs-t for any form of competitive racing, its such a hinderance compared to teh awd

sorta like buying a mustang without a v8 in it ;)

[2k1celica]

I have a 1999 gst eclipse (mine) and a 2001 gts celica (wife). I think the eclipse is faster, but I have upgraded to a 16g turbo blowoff valve front mount intercooler, ect. All I have done to the celica is lower it and put some wheels on it. The celica handles better by far though. www.dsmtalk.com is also a good forum for eclipses.

[larryd]

ok first off.. to the guy who said not to buy it becuase of crankwalk.. crankwalk though its very deadly in its own right happens about as often as someone misshifts a Celica.. bottom line is if you cant afford a new engine then dont get an Eclipse.. becuase if it happens its on you..

handling.. AWD i dont know off top of my head stock for stock but im sure it handles ALOT better then my FWD.. the GST feels like a boat stock compared to the Celica.. its just to heavy to toss around when your used to having a Celica with full suspension :).. but now that I have the full suspension on my GST i can outhandle most Celicas.. cept for those with the hotchkis setup :)

Insurance wise.. my insurance went down abour 400.00 a year for the Eclipse.. figure its going to, when you go from a 2000 model car to an older model 98 in my case car.. unless its a Supra or something :)

Good Eclipse sites..
www.dsmtuners.com (new site in the works)
www.dsmtalk.com (similar to nc.org but the moderators suck)
www.dsm.org (everything youve ever wanted to know :))

Overall impressions of the car.. I love it 100%.. the car looks bad ass in stock trim when its lowered with some wheels.. I hated the interior so I redid the entire thing.. the power output is incredible.. Ofcourse Ive spent alot of $$ on mine to beef it up but regardless the car is insanely fast now.. it doesnt take much to go fast in these cars..

Whats a good order to mod.. there are plenty of links on the net stating where you should start and what you should get.. here is one of em for ya.. http://www.dsmtuners.com/tuning-guide/

-- now to everyone else who replied --

LEAVECIVICSINTHEDUST.. the gearing is different in the GSX yes but thats not why its slower then the GST stock.. its becuase the car weighs 200lbs more then the GST.. but i wish I had a GSX just for the sole purpose of launching made easy.. id be in the 12s without a doubt right now..

memphis_raynes & SlasherX.. I agree with both of you.. id much rather have a GSX then the GST but I love my car to death.. I had to get a car quick and I looked for 2 weeks and coldnt find a decent GSX for a good price within 100 miles of where i live.. pretty sad actually, they are few and far between.. very hard to find.. but dont put down the FWD completely.. my car is still well capable of mid 12s with the right clutch, flywheel, and LSD, combo.. hell id prolly be in the 12s right now with slicks.. and top end.. well I can beat mostly everything out there top end.. ofcourse if yer building a track car then the GSX is what u want :)

2k1celica.. I would sure hope your GST is faster then your Celica.. it should be running atleast 13s when the Celica is a 15 second car..

lemme know if ya need anything else

[Mr96GSX408]

I don't know about larry, but my car sure rattles A LOT, everything from rear speaker panels, sunroof, to the glass in the doors when the windows are rolled down. That's probably the only thing that is bothersome. Other things that bother me are things such as idle surge when your throttle body decides to act up. The interior styling is OK, not the best - I'd take a Celica's interior styling over the Eclipses' interior styling anyday.

The GSX handles alright, but I do get a lot of body roll when I go driving on curvy roads. Just get some RRE strut bars and some RMDSM sway bars and you should be fine.

As far as modding goes, this is my build list:
K&N FPIK
A Pillar with Boost Gauge
MBC
Upper IC Piping w/aftermarket BOV
Exhaust
Downpipe
O2 Housing
Turbo (REMEMBER TO PORT!!!) creep sucks + Fuel Mods ie pump, injectors, controller
Front Mount Intercooler